In modern passenger aircraft, meals and drinks which are intended to be supplied to the aircraft passengers during a flight are currently stored in trolleys or suitably arranged storage cabinets in the area of the galleys, until they are distributed to the aircraft passengers by the cabin staff. In order to keep the meals and drinks cool prior to their consumption, it is known practice to cool the trolleys or the storage cabinets provided in the area of the galleys with the aid of dry ice. To do so, carbon dioxide snow pressed into the form of blocks is introduced into an upper compartment of a trolley or storage cabinet which is to be cooled, so that goods stored in the trolley or storage cabinet are cooled with the aid of carbon dioxide gas which is produced by sublimation and sinks downwards, impelled by gravity. Cooling by means of dry ice allows independent cooling of the goods received in the trolley or storage cabinet, for which no additional fittings in the area of the galleys or in other areas of the aircraft are necessary. However, the cooling capacity of a dry-ice cooling system is limited by the volume of dry ice available. A further disadvantage of a dry-ice cooling system is the inability to influence the temperature distribution that sets in within the trolley or storage cabinet to be cooled. Finally, the manufacture of dry ice is very energy-consuming and therefore expensive.
In addition, it is known, for example from DE 41 05 034 A1, to cool trolleys for storing food for cold storage which are located in the area of the aircraft's galleys with the aid of independent cooling apparatuses which operate with cold air as the coolant and are each equipped with their own compression-type refrigerating machine (air-chiller). Since the relatively voluminous cooling air lines of these cooling apparatuses are difficult to accommodate in the limited installation space on board an aircraft and, moreover, cause high losses, the air-chillers must each be installed in the area of the galleys, each galley requiring an air-chiller of its own. However, the installation space available in the area of the galleys for additional components is often particularly limited. In addition, the warm waste air from the air-chillers which is produced by the cold-vapour process taking place within these appliances, has to be discharged from the aircraft cabin separately, which makes the integration of the air-chillers in the immediate vicinity of the galleys additionally difficult.
As an alternative to this, DE 43 40 317 C2 for example, describes a central compression-type refrigerating machine whose refrigerating output is distributed, via a refrigerant fluid circuit, to cooling stations arranged in the area of the aircraft's galleys. The cooling stations supplied with cooling energy by the central refrigerating machine give this cooling energy off to trolleys for storing food for cold storage which are located in the area of the galleys, via cooling air circuits which are thermally coupled, via suitable heat exchangers, to the fluid refrigerant circuit of the central refrigerating machine.
The storage of food in cooled trolleys or in cooled storage devices arranged in the area of the galleys has the disadvantage that the food has to be distributed to the passengers by the cabin staff. As a result of this, the supplying of the passengers is very time-consuming and intensive in terms of staff. In addition, it is not possible to guarantee, even with a high deployment of staff, that all the passengers are served at the same time or even at a time they desire. A further disadvantage of the apparatuses currently used in aircraft for storing food to be supplied to aircraft passengers consists in the fact that the passengers are not able, for example when ordering meals, to see the dishes available for selection. This can result in a dish which has been selected on the basis of a verbal description ultimately failing to correspond to expectations.
The underlying object of the invention is to make available an aircraft passenger service device for receiving goods for cold storage, such as food and drinks for example, to be supplied to aircraft passengers, which makes it possible to improve the quality of service for the passengers on board the aircraft without additional input in terms of staff.